Wisconsin's Place in the Koch Brothers' and Bradley Foundation's Right-Wing Web

Theconservative takeover of Wisconsin in 2010 didn’t happen by accident, accordingto a new report by American Bridge, a progressive watchdog group tracking theinfluence of conservative money in politics. The Wisconsin takeover was acoordinated effort of right-wing candidates, think tanks, issue ads and mediaoutlets funded by deep-pocketed national donors, most prominently Charles andDavid Koch and the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation. The report details howthe influx of right-wing dark money supported Scott Walker in his 2010gubernatorial election, then propped up his anti-public sector agenda andunderwrote the new redistricting map that will likely cement a Republicanmajority in the state Legislature for a decade.

Lastweek, American Bridge Vice President Eddie Vale spoke to the Shepherd exclusively about the newreport.

Shepherd: What was your intent when you set out to document theconservative takeover of Wisconsin?

Vale: People talk about money in politics or the Koch brothers and thesevague, amorphous concepts. We wanted to show that the issue of the Koch brothersand their money isn’t a D.C. issue; it isn’t a campaign finance issue. It’sreally hurting and affecting people’s lives on a day-to-day basis. The reasonwhy workers in Wisconsin are losing their collective bargaining rights isbecause of this outside money. The reason why voting rights are being cut backis because of this money. The reason why women’s access to family planningservices is cut back is because of this money. It is having a very negativeeffect on people’s lives in the state.

Shepherd: Can you really draw a direct line between this darkmoney and specific policies?

Vale: Oh yeah. It’s not even a matter of us needing to draw the line as muchas they directly draw it for us. They are very upfront and direct about whatthey are trying to do. The Koch brothers talk about how they are against unionrights, they’re against minimum wage rights. If you look at the AmericanLegislative Exchange Council, ALEC, they go a step further than even the Kochbrothers. They don’t just talk about the issues—they literally write bills andsend them to lawmakers.

Shepherd: Don’t the groups on the left do the same thing?

Vale: Certainly folks on the left advocate for issue positions. But if youlook at the scope and scale of the amount of money that’s being spent, and themorass of c3s and c4s and stuff that the Koch brothers are running their moneythrough in Wisconsin, there is nothing really close to the scope and size ofwhat’s happening there.

Shepherd: Have you been able to detect these operations in otherstates, or is Wisconsin alone in this?

Vale: I think that it’s something we’re seeing replicated in other placesaround the country. That’s one of the projects we’re working on, to show howsimilar things are happening in other states. It’s not a coincidence that thishappened in Wisconsin. A good example is another study we just completed, aboutNorth Carolina. They have the same kind of influx of national, outside groupsand money. And they have a sort of similar in-state situation. You guys have theBradley Foundation and they’ve got a guy named Art Pope, who did a lot of thesame things and funded the same things on the ground. They have the sameconvergence of right-wing money from the state combining with this influx ofnational folks to work together. North Carolina did pretty much the same thing,top to bottom, from redistricting to then passing pretty much every right-wingbill under the sun through the legislature. Just ramming themthrough—introduce, pass; introduce, pass—as fast as they could.

Shepherd: In Wisconsin, Americans for Prosperity is starting toget involved in local elections. We’ve seen the De Vos family trying toinfluence Milwaukee Public Schools elections to elect pro-voucher candidates.They drop a ton of money in at the last minute, which they don’t have to reportuntil after the election. Is this the next frontier?

Vale: That is something we’re seeing across the country. It’s the next stepin their playbook. They have been using this money and these tactics in racesfor governor and Senate and the House. The next iteration of that isn’t justdoing state legislative races, but more recently they are going into mayoralraces and county executive races. It will have a dangerous impact, since theamount of money in those races is lesser overall. A big donor coming in at thelast minute in these smaller races with a lot of money or an ad campaign canhave a greater impact than in bigger races.

Shepherd: What can be done to attack the power of this network?

Vale: Expose it. Sunshine is the best medicine. There is a very good reasonwhy there isn’t just one group doing this. They filter it through their own webof companies and LLCs and c4s with the intention of hiding the work that theyare doing. They don’t want people to know the sources of funding or what theirreal agenda is. With this report, we are trying to shine some light on this andshow people what’s going on. Campaign finance money is a very amorphous issuethat people aren’t really following and don’t realize that it impacts theirlives. But we wanted to show that this has a real effect on their lives. Thereason why you are not getting health care, the reason why you are not gettingunemployment, the reason why the Planned Parenthood clinic in your neighborhoodis closing is because of this outside money that is being spent. There are veryconcrete and negative impacts in your daily life because of these types ofoperations.

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